Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

2014/03/08: RTCC: Loss and damage: the calm before the storm?
Countries agreed to address losses and damages linked to climate change at a summit in Warsaw, but now comes the hard part Recent floods in the United Kingdom, snowstorms in north east America and severe drought in California are bringing home the message that loss and damage from weather related events can hit the richest countries as well as poor ones and that such events are likely to become more frequent in future due to human induced climate change.

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]
And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
We’ll see.
At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile…
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

2014/03/04: BBC: Cattle prices tumble amid eastern Australia’s drought
In these drought-hit parts of eastern Australia they pray for rain. The New England region north of Sydney is traditionally some of the nation’s best farming country, producing some of its finest beef cattle and wool. But much of the land is barren and has been without significant rainfall for over a year. Crops have failed and livestock has been sold off, while many dams are bone dry.

2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Drought takes its toll on the soil
The national commodities forecaster has released a map showing vast areas of key agricultural production land are suffering the driest soil conditions in 100 years. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences (ABARES) annual conference began in Canberra today.

2014/03/03: BBC: Crop diversity decline ‘threatens food security’
Fewer crop species are feeding the world than 50 years ago – raising concerns about the resilience of the global food system, a study has shown. The authors warned a loss of diversity meant more people were dependent on key crops, leaving them more exposed to harvest failures.

This week in notable weather:

2014/03/07: BBC: Tree storm damage ‘worst since 1987′
This winter’s extreme winds caused the biggest loss of trees in more than 20 years, according to the National Trust. Some of their sites have seen the greatest number of trees knocked down since the Great Storm of 1987.

2014/03/05: BBC: New bird family discovered in Asia
A unique family of birds containing just one species has been discovered by researchers. Scientists investigating families within the Passerida group of perching birds identified 10 separate branches in their tree of life. The analysis also revealed that the spotted wren-babbler sat on its own branch and was not related to either wrens or wren-babblers. Experts recommend the distinctive bird should now be referred to as Elachura.

2014/03/05: BBC: Live fast, die young strategy spawned Amazon tree boom
A “live fast, die young” life history strategy could have been a key factor behind today’s high tree diversity in the Amazon, scientists have suggested. The researchers hope the findings will shed light on why some groups of trees in the biodiversity hotspot contain hundreds of species. An estimated 16,000 tree species – about 30% of the recorded total worldwide – are found in the Amazon.

On the tornado front, here’s a modest suggestion:

2014/03/08: BBC: Great Walls of America ‘could stop tornadoes’
Building three “Great Walls” across Tornado Alley in the US could eliminate the disasters, a physicist says. The barriers – 300m (980ft) high and up to 100 miles long – would act like hill ranges, softening winds before twisters can form. They would cost $16bn (£9.6bn) to build but save billions of dollars of damage each year, said Prof Rongjia Tao, of Temple University, Philadelphia.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

2014/03/06: RTCC: Palm oil producers blamed as smog chokes Indonesia
State of emergency called in Riau region of Indonesia, as data shows 52% of fires originated in palm oil and logging land Fires in Indonesia are destroying large areas of forest on land owned by lumber and palm oil companies, casting further attention on western companies that buy commodities from the affected regions.

And other significant documents:

CSIRO: [link to 4 meg pdf] State of the Climate – 2014
This State of the Climate is the third in a series of reports produced by CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It provides a summary of observations of Australia’s climate and analysis of the factors that influence it.

Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?

2014/03/07: EurActiv: Kallas: Global aviation emissions talks ‘a nightmare’
As the EU institutions found a fragile compromise on the emissions trading scheme for aviation, the EU commissioner in charge of transport said the EU executive was still “committed to the ETS” and put the blame on member states for its failure. After the European Union’s institutions reached a preliminary agreement on the highly-sensitive aviation emissions trading scheme (ETS) on Wednesday (5 March), the EU commissioner in charge of transport, Siim Kallas, admitted that the EU had bowed to international pressure. Speaking at an event organised by the European Policy Centre and US plane-maker Boeing on aviation in Europe, Kallas called the talks “a nightmare”.

2014/03/05: EurActiv: EU agrees draft plan for aviation emissions
The European Union on Tuesday (4 March) reached a preliminary deal on a law that will exempt long-haul flights from paying for carbon emissions until 2016, EU sources said. The deal is a further weakening of the bloc’s stance following immense international pressure and threats of a trade war.

2014/03/05: RTCC: EU proposes more time for long-haul airlines to cut CO2
EU negotiators agree tentative deal that stops the clock longer on emissions trading for intercontinental flights Long-haul flights will remain exempt from the EU’s emissions trading scheme until 2016 after a provisional deal was reached yesterday by lawmakers in Brussels, meaning more time for the global aviation industry to decide how to shrink its large carbon footprint.

Various aspects of the US/EU/NATO confrontation of Russia over Crimea and Ukraine are relevant here:

2014/03/04: RTCC: Russia-Ukraine tension could be catalyst for EU 2030 targets
Tension with gas supplier Russia to spur push for domestic energy, but not only renewables would benefit. EU leaders look unlikely to agree on a 2030 carbon reduction target later this month as some countries may ask for more time, but the current military stand-off between Russia and Ukraine could speed up co-operation within the 28-nation bloc on reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels.

2014/03/06: BBC: Government pledges £10.5m for Somerset flood scheme
Funding of £10.5m has been announced towards the cost of a £100m draft flood prevention scheme for Somerset. The Somerset Levels and Moors Flood Action Plan outlines measures including dredging, a tidal barrage and extra permanent pumping sites. The Department for Transport is backing it with £10m and the Department for Communities and Local Government with £500,000. That is in addition to £10m already announced by David Cameron.

2014/03/04: EurActiv: Energy firms call for urgent carbon market action
Four Fortune 500 companies have written to the UK’s energy minister, Ed Davey, calling for the rapid cancellation of two billion carbon allowances as EU energy and environment ministers begin two days of high-stakes policy talks in Brussels. The CEOs of four companies – Alstom UK, Shell UK, Doosan and SSE – all warn that the six-year wait for light reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) proposed in the EU’s 2030 climate and energy package, neglects an “immediate problem” of carbon credit over-supply. “Two billion allowances are suppressing cost efficient carbon abatement and delaying investments in energy efficiency and lower carbon processes, products and services for the medium and long term,” says the letter, which EurActiv has seen.

2014/03/08: ABC(Au): Bandt says Gina Rinehart a threat to egalitarianism
Greens MP Adam Bandt has accused millionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart of being ‘a threat to Australian egalitarianism’. Ms Rinehart has attacked what she calls Australia’s entitlement mentality, and has called on the Government to emulate the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Greens MP Adam Bandt says the real problem is billionaires not paying enough tax.

2014/03/03: ABC(Au): Mixed messages surround health concerns of Morwell coal mine fire
As smoke continues to blanket the Victorian town of Morwell, an international study shows that the tiny particles the residents are breathing in may sharply increase their risk of heart attack. Victoria’s chief health officer is defending her decision to wait to upgrade the health warning to residents. But a Melbourne respiratory physician says a 2010 High Court ruling could be seized upon by potential Morwell litigants.

2014/03/04: NYT: Australia Puts Green Credibility to the Test
Since Australia’s conservative government took office almost six months ago, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared the country open for business. But in his zeal, critics say, Mr. Abbott has exposed parts of Australia’s fragile environment to danger. And he has even created unease among some of his constituents in the business community. So far, the Abbott government has given a green light to the expansion of a coal port in the country’s north that critics fear will dump tons of silt on the Great Barrier Reef. Down south, the government is moving to delist stands of rain forest on the island of Tasmania that are under World Heritage protection from logging. Out west, it has approved the culling of sharks, including endangered great whites, citing the need to keep tourism dollars flowing after a spate of fatal attacks. Meanwhile, Mr. Abbott is pushing ahead with a campaign promise to rescind the so-called carbon tax on national greenhouse gas emissions that was put in place by the Labor government that preceded Mr. Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition and has been blamed for increasing energy costs. And to streamline his new cabinet, he abolished the ministerial-level portfolio of science, created in the 1930s, parceling out the duties to other departments and causing consternation in Australia’s scientific circles.

2014/03/04: RNE: IEA blows away Abbott myths about solar and wind energy
One of the most depressing discussions I have ever had as editor of RenewEconomy was with a policy advisor for a state Coalition government. He started off by giving me a lecture about how his minister only acted on “evidence based information”, and then proceeded to quote some of the more outrageous nonsense published in the Murdoch media and some extremely marginal web-sites. Perhaps, then, this person and all the other advisors who direct (or distort) energy policy at state and federal level with the conservative administrations should sit down and absorb the latest report by the International Energy Agency on the integration of wind and solar energy. It might reduce the ignorance and misinformation that is having a profound impact on renewable policy in Australia.

CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology released The State of the Climate 2014 report this week:

CSIRO: [link to 4 meg pdf] State of the Climate – 2014
This State of the Climate is the third in a series of reports produced by CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It provides a summary of observations of Australia’s climate and analysis of the factors that influence it.

2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Climate report reveals rainfall changes
The latest climate report from the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology shows autumn and winter rain in southern Australia has declined sharply in recent decades. The State of the Climate 2014 report found average Australian rainfall has actually increased since 1900, due to above average rainfall during northern wet seasons. But in south-eastern Australia, there’s been a 25 per cent reduction in average rainfall in April and May since the 1990s, and in the south-west of Western Australia there’s been a 17 per cent decline in winter rain since the 1970s.

2014/03/05: BBerg: Li Says China Will Declare War on Pollution as Smog Spreads
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said pollution is a major problem and the government will “‘declare war” on smog by removing high-emission cars from the road and closing coal-fired furnaces. Pollution is “nature’s red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development,” Li said today in his work report at the start of this year’s National People’s Congress in Beijing. “Fostering a sound ecological environment is vital for people’s lives and the future of our nation.”

And South America:

2014/03/08: al Jazeera: Ex-rebel poised to win El Salvador presidency
Polls indicate that left-leaning ex-guerrilla Sanchez Ceren is set for victory in runoff vote. A former Marxist rebel who has promised to continue the government’s popular social programs is poised to win El Salvador’s presidential election runoff on Sunday, giving the ruling party a second consecutive term. Most polls show Salvador Sanchez Ceren, 69, of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, with a lead that ranges from 10 to 18 percentage points ahead of San Salvador Mayor Norman Quijano, the candidate of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as ARENA, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The Enbridge Line 9 reversal has been approved. Let the lawsuits begin:

2014/03/07: TP:JR: Two More Giant Tar Sands Pipelines Reach Milestones As Keystone XL Decision Looms
Two massive pipeline projects with a combined value of $19 billion passed key hurdles this week — a striking reminder that the fight over Keystone XL is just the beginning of what promises to be a long debate over the future of the Canadian tar sands oil reserves. The first giant west-to-east pipeline is from TransCanada, the same company that lays claim to Keystone XL. The company’s $12 billion Energy East pipeline would be the largest oil sands pipeline in North America, and on Tuesday filed its project description with Canada’s National Energy Board. Energy East would pump 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta’s tar sands to terminals in Montreal, Quebec City, and St. John, as well as for export across the Atlantic. The second pipeline is from Enbridge Inc., which on Thursday got final approval for its Line 9 expansion project to bring tar sands to Montreal. But Line 9 isn’t their biggest approval this week. On Monday, the company announced it has received financial backing for its $7 billion Line 3 Replacement project. That project would replace an existing 46-year-old pipeline between Alberta and Wisconsin, and double oil flow from 390,000 barrels of oil per day to 760,000.

Meanwhile in BC:

2014/03/04: Tyee: Going Green Browned Off Key NDP Voters
And if BC New Dems continue to reject the resource sector, they will lose. Again. The fundamental problem facing the B.C. New Democratic Party is simple to state and hard to solve: going green has browned off key voters needed to form government.

2014/03/04: CBC: Keystone XL letter from Canada vows GHG emissions cuts
Canada committed to regulations for oil and natural gas sectors, Gary Doer says Gary Doer, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., is making the case for TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The three-page letter written by Gary Doer, dated Feb. 28, is Canada’s submission to the U.S. State Department’s 30-day public comment period, which closes this Friday, March 7.

Alpha Natural Resources is being fined for 6,000 Clean Water Act violations in 7 years:

2014/03/05: NYT: Coal Firm to Pay Record Penalty and Spend Millions on Water Cleanup in 5 States
One of the nation’s biggest coal companies will pay a record civil penalty and will spend tens of millions of dollars to clean up water flowing from mines in five states, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The company, Alpha Natural Resources, and 66 of its subsidiaries including the former Massey Energy, will spend $200 million under a consent decree to reduce pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The company will also pay $27.5 million, the largest civil penalty ever for permit violations under the Clean Water Act, in connection with more than 6,000 such violations from 2006 to 2013. Under the agreement, which involved both state and federal agencies, Alpha’s new equipment should prevent the discharge of about 36 million pounds of dissolved solids each year, including about nine million pounds of metals and other pollutants. The agreement is the fifth in recent years between the agencies and coal companies, following deals with Massey in 2008, Patriot Coal in 2009, and Arch Coal and Consol Energy in 2011.

2014/03/06: WaPo: House backs bill to block EPA power plant rule
The Republican-controlled House moved Thursday to block President Barack Obama’s plan to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, an election-year strike at the White House aimed at portraying Obama as a job killer. Ten coal-state or Southern Democrats joined with Republicans to approve the bill, 229-183.

2014/03/04: BBerg: Chevron Wins U.S. Ruling Calling Ecuador Judgment Fraud
Chevron Corp. won a U.S. judge’s ruling that a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment issued in Ecuador was procured by fraud, making it less likely that plaintiffs will collect the $9.5 billion award. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said today that the second-largest U.S. oil company provided enough evidence that a 2011 judgment on behalf of rain forest dwellers in the country’s Lago Agrio area was secured by bribing a judge and ghostwriting court documents. Kaplan oversaw a seven-week nonjury trial over Chevron’s allegations.

Hey! Let’s contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It’ll be a fracking gas!

2014/03/06: FuelFix: FracFocus falls short, report to feds concludes
Oil companies are shielding too much information from public view in an industry-backed database for disclosing chemicals used in oil and gas wells, engineers, environmentalists and energy experts told the Obama administration on Thursday. The FracFocus registry also contains errors that undermine its role as the leading mechanism for tracking hydraulic fracturing chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas production, said an Energy Department advisory board.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

2014/03/07: BBC: Chaori Solar in landmark Chinese bond default
Solar panel maker Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology has defaulted on interest payments owed on its bond, say media reports quoting the firm. It is the first Chinese firm ever to default on its onshore corporate bonds. On Tuesday, the firm warned it would be unable to make a 89.8 million yuan ($14.6m; £8.7m) interest payment on a one billion yuan bond issued in 2012.

2014/03/05: WNN: US MOX plant left cold by budget
The USA’s partially built Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), a key component of the country’s plutonium disposition program, is to be placed on cold standby after being effectively cut out of the Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) FY2015 budget request.

How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?

2014/03/07: RNE: Milne: Regulatory fiat last refuge for incumbent utilities
Greens Leader Christine Milne has told the incumbent electricity industry what it knows, but it doesn’t like to hear – its business model is changing irrevocably, and the only hindrance to that change is the ability of those incumbents to protect themselves with regulatory barriers. In a stunning speech at Smart Grid Australia conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, Milne said battery storage is set to become the most disruptive of all technologies to centralised electricity networks.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer — no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field … and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

“The necessity of taking the industrial world to its next stage of evolution is not a disaster — it is an amazing opportunity. How to seize the opportunity, how to bring into being a world that is not only sustainable, functional, and equitable but also deeply desirable is a question of leadership and ethics and vision and courage, properties not of computer models but of the human heart and soul.” -Meadows et al., Limits to Growth, page 263